Status Of Appropriations -- Not So Good

From the Capitol Insider put out by the Disability Policy Collaboration:

Congress continues to make slow progress on enacting FY 2010 appropriations bills. Conference reports on two appropriations bills are scheduled for floor votes in the House and Senate [but not the bill covering Social Security]. The Congress will also need to pass an extension on the Continuing Resolution (CR) that expires at the end of this week. A CR keeps those programs and agencies whose FY 2010 appropriations are still pending operating at FY 2009 levels. The next CR is expected to last through November and possibly December. An Omnibus Appropriations bill, which would combine all the FY 2010 appropriations not yet enacted into law, becomes increasingly likely before the end of the year.

One Sentence From An E-Mail I Received Today

"I called the Appeals Council today and was told by a clerk named ****** that the Appeals Council is 4 weeks behind in logging in faxes..."

Death Of John Schwartz

From the Baltimore Sun:

John Bernard Schwartz, a retired Social Security Administration personnel executive who also taught at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, died of pneumonia Oct. 14 at Howard County General Hospital. The Westview resident was 83. ...

He became a Social Security Administration field representative and held numerous posts in the agency. After moving to Baltimore in 1955 as a systems analyst, he became Social Security's personnel director. He also served under Arthur S. Flemming and Elliot L. Richardson, former Health, Education and Welfare secretaries.

Mr. Schwartz retired as the director of the agency's Office of Security and Program Integrity nearly 30 years ago.

Why Elections Matter

The Office of Personnel Management has released statistics showing the number of employees at Social Security as of June 2009. The numbers improved by 3,385 or 5.4%. Here is the latest number as well as earlier numbers for comparison.

• June 2009 66,614
  
• March 2009 63,229
  
• December 2008 63,733
  
• September 2008 63,990
  
• June 2008 63,622
  
• December 2007 61,822
• September 2007 62,407
• September 2006 63,647
• September 2005 66,147
• September 2004 65,258
• September 2003 64,903
• September 2002 64,648
• September 2001 65,377
• September 2000 64,521
• September 1999 63,957
• September 1998 65,629

US Not Alone In Seeing Increase In Disability Claims -- And What Does This Portend For The U.S.

From The Australian:

The government will crack down on eligibility for disability pensions in the wake of a 30 per cent spike in applications during the global financial crisis.

Families Minister Jenny Macklin has said the government was concerned that a change in work status rather than health was the main reason for the surge in applications for the welfare benefit. ...

Ms Macklin said the rate of people applying for the disability pension was very closely related to the rate applying for unemployment benefits. ...

Addressing a forum by the Labor-leaning think tank Per Capita in Canberra yesterday, she spelt out details of a new system for assessing claims for the disability pension that would place much greater weight on previous work history.

"From July next year, a new triage system will be introduced to cater for the different needs of new claimants for the disability pension."

People who were "manifestly eligible" because of catastrophic, congenital disability or cancer would be fast-tracked so they could get support more quickly.

Those who were clearly not eligible would be channelled out of the claim process earlier, while borderline claims would be subjected to an intensive work assessment. ...

Ms Macklin said the new system of assessment would place much greater emphasis on a person's work history.

"At the moment, there is no assessment of prior work history when determining whether an individual has the capacity to work in the future."

Fast tracking cases of the most clearly disabled -- where have I heard of that before?

The bigger issue here is that one response to an increase in the number of disability claims is to try to make it harder to get disability benefits. We have seen an increase in disability claims in the U.S. Will we, like Australia, see an attempt to make it harder to get disability benefits?

Webinar For Wounded Warriors

Disability.gov reports that Social Security is sponsoring a "webinar" for wounded warriors on November 4. "Participants will learn about benefit programs, and get answers to questions such as who is eligible, and when and how to apply for benefits."

Class Action Settled

From SeniorJournal.com:

A suit filed in 2007 by Medicare beneficiaries against the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Social Security Administration has been settled. One of the legal teams that represented the beneficiaries, The Center for Medicare Advocacy, says the Machado case was brought by beneficiaries who experienced lengthy delays in having their Part D premiums accurately withheld, or not withheld, from their Social Security benefits. ...

[U]nder the terms of the settlement, customer service representatives at 1(800)MEDICARE are now directed to advise people to call back, or to call their plan, if 90 days elapse after the "triggering date" without resolution of their problem. ...

Pursuant to the settlement agreement, CMS has also formally revised its operating procedures to prioritize and track the resolution of every Part D premium withholding complaint ...

It is not clear whether Social Security agreed to do anything as part of the settlement.

Qualified Tuition Program Funds Are Countable Resources For SSI

From a recent issuance of Social Security's Program Operations Manual Series (POMS):

Funds in a Qualified Tuition Program (QTP), also referred to as a Section 529 Plan, are a countable resource to the individual who owns the account (e.g. a parent or grandparent). Normally, the owner is the person who established the account. In most instances, the individual who establishes a QTP retains the ability to withdraw any or all of the funds in the account for his or her own benefit.

NOTE: In most cases, the designated beneficiary (i.e. the student or future student) is not the owner of the account and does not have any rights to the funds in the account.